Monthly Archives: January 2017

I used to think the Catholic Church was misogynistic, but I was looking at it with the eyes of the world rather than the eyes of faith. I used to have all sorts of silly and erroneous ideas about the Church. Since my conversion I feel like I’ve taken the red pill in The Matrix. The veil has been lifted, and I can see much more clearly.

The Church doesn’t teach men that women are sex objects, or vice versa. It doesn’t teach that sex is primarily for pleasure, or that sex outside marriage is a good idea. It doesn’t teach women that it’s okay to kill their own babies in their wombs. No, it’s the secular world that teaches us to objectify women, to regard babies as a disposable inconvenience, and to pursue pleasure above all else.

True womanhood, and true manhood, is about being obedient to the will of God. Marriage between a man and a woman is an earthly reflection of the union of Christ with the Church. Families are an earthly reflection of the perfect love and relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Families break down when they stop obeying God’s will, or stop relying on God’s help.

I read a beautiful article recently by Father Richard Heilman. He describes how woman is the pinnacle of God’s creation. The article is a lovely tribute to true womanhood and the tradition of veiling.

It’s true that women can’t be priests (and that’s primarily where the misogynistic reputation comes from) but they can dedicate their lives to God in equally valuable ways. Men and women are not the same or interchangeable, despite what the secular world is trying to get us to believe. God has given us different natures and roles. We serve God best by fully accepting our role in His grand plan.

And, if you think that women should be allowed to be priests maybe you don’t understand what a priest is. I’m only a newbie Catholic but, as I understand it, a priest is chosen by God to stand “in persona Christi”. A priest offers the Mass and the Sacraments in Christ’s stead. It seems logical that God chooses men for this role because Christ was incarnated as a man; the new Adam (with Mary, through her fiat, as the new Eve). It is through ignorance or arrogance that we think that we could over-ride God’s will, and force Him to make a woman a priest.

…Today the word “ordination” is reserved for the sacramental act which integrates a man into the order of bishops, presbyters, or deacons, and goes beyond a simple election, designation, delegation, or institution by the community, for it confers a gift of the Holy Spirit that permits the exercise of a “sacred power” (sacra potestas) which can come only from Christ himself through his Church. Ordination is also called consecratio, for it is a setting apart and an investiture by Christ himself for his Church. The laying on of hands by the bishop, with the consecratory prayer, constitutes the visible sign of this ordination… The Lord Jesus chose men to form the college of the twelve apostles, and the apostles did the same when they chose collaborators to succeed them in their ministry… The Church recognizes herself to be bound by this choice made by the Lord himself. For this reason the ordination of women is not possible…No one has a rightto receive the sacrament of Holy Orders. Indeed no one claims this office for himself; he is called to it by God… Like every grace this sacrament can be received only as an unmerited gift.

The video below offers another way to look at this issue:

If you’re jealous of the rank and prestige that men can attain in the Church perhaps you should think about the dreadful risk that bishops and cardinals take. These are only mortal men but they are expected to retain (and develop) their humility and other virtues while being offered the privileges of their rank. Powerful positions offer great temptations that can jeopardise the fate of their eternal souls. Not only that, these positions mean that they can also jeopardise the fate of many other souls. The deepest parts of hell are reserved for shepherds who betray their flock and do not repent.

You cannot be a Christian and not recognise the privilege that it is to be a woman, because the most perfect of all creatures, the only creature born without original sin, is a woman and therefore once again you understand the extraordinary privilege of being one and having this image of the Holy Virgin, who was both Virgin and Mother and the two go beautifully together.

– Dr. Alice Von Hildebrand (via Fr. Heilman’s article)

Note: The photos of stained glass windows were taken last year in my local church.

As a concrete means we recommend to recite every day this ancient prayer of the Church or a part of the holy rosary in the intention that Pope Francis may revoke in an unequivocal manner those pastoral guidelines, which permit the divorced and so-called “remarried” to receive the sacraments of Penance and Eucharist without asking them to fulfil the obligation of a life in continence.

18 January 2017, the ancient feast of the Chair of Saint Peter in Rome

English translation of the prayer (produced with the help of Google Translate):

“Let us pray for our Pope Francis: May the Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth, and let him not surrender to the will of his enemies. Thou art Peter,and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.“

Want to know an easy way you can reduce suffering in the world? If you’re a meat-eater, all you have to do is stop buying and consuming meat products. It’s not as hard as it sounds. I gave up meat over twenty years ago. Even though I loved the taste of meat (my favourite meals were beef wellington and bacon sandwiches) I didn’t find it difficult to stop eating it. Why? Because I realised the same thing that the people in this video realised: